Bernardo Yorba

Californio landowner and rancher (1800–1858)

Bernardo Yorba

Portrait of Yorba, c. 1840.

Alcalde of Santa Ana
In office
1833–1836
In office
1840–1844
Personal details
Born| August 20, 1800 (1800-08-20)
San Diego
Died| November 28, 1858(1858-11-28) (aged 58)
Yorba Linda
Resting place| Yorba Cemetery

Bernardo Yorba (August 20, 1800 - November 28, 1858)[1][2] was a prominent Californio landowner, ranchero, politician, and public figure. He was one of the wealthiest men in early 19th-century California. Yorba also served as alcalde (mayor) of Santa Ana. The city of Yorba Linda is named after him.[3]

Born to José Antonio Yorba, a member of the Portolà expedition, Yorba was one of California's largest landowners and most successful ranchers, with thousands of cattle and horses grazing on land grants totaling more than 35,000 acres. Bernado Yorba managed his holdings from the Hacienda de San Antonio, the principal hacienda of the Yorba family.

## Life

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Bernardo Yorba was born on August 20, 1800, in San Diego. Other sources list his birth on August 4, 1801.[4][5] Bernardo was the son of José Antonio Yorba, one of the first Spanish soldiers to arrive in California, and Maria Josefa Grijalva. Bernardo's childhood was spent in San Diego, where he attended a school kept by Franciscan Fathers. Jose Antonio Yorba had moved to the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, granted to him and his nephew Pablo Peralta, by Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga on behalf of the Spanish Government in 1810.[6][7] It was around this time that the family moved to the rancho near present-day Olive, California, in Orange County.[8]

In 1834, Bernardo was granted the 13,328-acre (53.94 km2) Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana.[8][9] It was shortly after this that Bernardo began construction of a large adobe house, the Bernardo Yorba Hacienda.[8] Bernardo was elected to serve as Juez de Campo and Auxiliary Alcade several times (1833, 1836, 1840, and 1844).[7][10] In 1846, he was granted Rancho La Sierra.

## Descendants

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In 1858, At the age of 58, Bernardo Yorba died leaving behind a large and prosperous rancho and many children.[11] Some sources list his death on November 28, 1858.[7] Other sources list his death on October 21, 1858. He was interred in the old Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles. He left the land for a cemetery, the Yorba Cemetery, in his will but it was not ready for a burial until 1862. He and nine of his family members remained at Calvary until 1923 when they were all moved and reinterred at Yorba Cemetery.[4] He married his first wife, Maria de Jesus Alvarado, in 1819. After her death, he married Felipa Dominguez in 1829, and after her death, Andrea Elizalde (Davila) in 1854.[7][12]

The children of Bernardo Yorba and Maria de Jesus Alvarado (1796–1828)

Name  | Birth/Death  | Married  | Notes
Dolores Yorba | 1824–  |  |
Raymundo Yorba | 1826–1891  | Francisca Dominguez, Concepcion Serrano  |
Maria Ynez Yorba | 1827–1911  | Leonardo Cota |
Ramona Anselma Yorba | 1828–1849  | Benjamin Davis Wilson |
The children of Bernardo Yorba and Felipa Dominguez (1812–1851)
Name  | Birth/Death  | Married  | Notes
Maria de Jesus Yorba | 1831–  | Anastasio Botiller, Thomas J. Scully  |
Prudencio Yorba | 1832–1885  | Maria de los Dolores Ontiveros  | One of their children, Angelina Yorba, would marry Samuel Kraemer in 1886.[13][14]
Jose de Jesus Yorba | 1833–1881  | Soledad Lugo  |
Marcos Yorba | 1834–1892  | Ramona Yorba  |
Leonora Yorba | 1838–  | John Rowland |
Trinidad Yorba | 1840–1881  | Jesus Lugo, Josefa Palomares  |
Vicente Yorba | 1844–1903  | Erolinda Cota  |
Sinobia / Zenobia Yorba | 1845–1892  | Thomas Rowland  |
The children of Bernardo Yorba and Andrea Elizalde (1830–)
Name  | Birth/Death  | Married  | Notes
Bernardo Antonio Yorba II | 1855–1888  |  | [15]
Francisco Xavier Yorba | 1856–  | Victorine Carnaham  |
Gregorio Yorba | 1857–  |  |

## References

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1. ^ Amelia L. Davila, "Historic Yorba", Santa Ana Weekly Blade, June 1, 1893
2. ^ Arnold O. Dominguez, "José Antonio Yorba I", 1985 2nd Ed.; p. 12, Orange County Historical Society
3. ^ Don Meadows, "The House of Bernardo Yorba", 1985 2nd Ed.; p. 4, Orange County Historical Society
4. ^ a b Yorba Linda History – Courtesy of the Yorba Linda Public Library
5. ^ The House of Bernardo Yorba
6. ^ Arnold O. Dominguez, 1985 2nd Ed., p. 11
7. ^ a b c d Amelia L. Davila, 1893
8. ^ a b c Don Meadows, 1985 2nd Ed.; p. 4
9. ^ Yorba Linda History
10. ^ Arnold O. Dominguez, 1985 2nd Ed.
11. ^ California Society, D.A.R., 1952, Early California Wills, Volume 1
12. ^ Bernardo (Fernando) Antonio Yorba
13. ^ Prudencio Yorba
14. ^ Maria de los Delores Ontiveros and Prudencio Yorba
15. ^ Bernardo Yorba II

## Further reading

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* Beers, Henry Putney, (1979). "Spanish & Mexican Records of the American Southwest : A Bibliographical Guide to Archive and Manuscript Sources", Tucson : University of Arizona Press
* Mildred Yorba MacArthur, A brief history of the Yorba family, Yorba Linda Public Library, May 1960.
* Newmark, Haris (1916) Sixty Years in Southern California: 1853–1913, Knickerbocker Press, New York.
* Northrop, Marie E. (June 1969). "The Yorba Family Cemetery: California's Oldest". National Genealogical Society Quarterly: 96–103.
* Northrop, Marie E. (1986). Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769–1850, Volumes I, II & III. Southern California Genealogical Society, Burbank, California.
* Pitt, Leonard; Ramón A. Gutiérrez (1999). Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846–1890. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21958-8.
* Pleasants, Adelene (1931). "History of Orange County, California. Vol. 1", Los Angeles, CA : J. R. Finnell & Sons Publishing Company

## External links

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* Yorba Linda History
* The Yorba and Slaughter Families Adobe

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* United States

Other|

* SNAC
* Yale LUX

*[c.]: circa